| Aerodactylus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type specimen | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | †Pterosauria |
| Suborder: | †Pterodactyloidea |
| Clade: | †Aurorazhdarchia |
| Genus: | †Aerodactylus Vidovic & Martill, 2014 |
| Type species | |
| †Pterodactylus scolopaciceps Meyer, 1860 | |
| Species | |
| Synonyms | |
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Aerodactylus (meaning "wind finger", after thePokémonAerodactyl) is apterosaurgenus containing a single species,Aerodactylus scolopaciceps. Thefossil remains of this species have been found only in theSolnhofen limestone ofBavaria,Germany, dated to the lateJurassicPeriod (earlyTithonian), about 150.8–148.5 million years ago.[1] The validity ofAerodactylus has been disputed, with some pterosaur experts suggesting that none of the specimens referred to this genus are distinguishable fromPterodactylus.
In 1850Hermann von Meyer described the specimen now known by its collection number BSP AS V 29 a/b, which had been recovered from theSolnhofen limestone ofBavaria, Germany, as a new specimen ofPterodactylus longirostris.[2] The same specimen was discussed in another volume by Meyer,Fauna der Vorwelt, published in 1860. By that point, he regarded it as a species of its own, and referred to it asPterodactylus scolopaciceps.[3] The validity ofP. scolopaciceps was viewed with skepticism:Johann Andreas Wagner believed that any diagnostic features could be attributed to taphonomic artefacts or misinterpretations of the fossil.Karl Alfred Ritter von Zittel agreed with Wagner's assessment, and in 1883, synonymised it withP. kochi (now considered its own genus,Diopecephalus).[4] In 1938,Ferdinand Broili described a pterosaur specimen (BSP 1937 I 18) recovered nearEichstätt. Disagreeing with Wagner and Zittel, he assigned the specimen toP. scolopaciceps, contending that it was a valid taxon.[5]Peter Wellnhofer disagreed with Broili's attempt at resurrecting the taxon, and in 1970 upheld Zittel's proposed synonymy withP. kochi.[6] In 2013, Christopher S. Bennett reviewed the taxonomy ofPterodactylus, and synonymisedP. kochi with the type species ofPterodactylus,P. antiquus.[7]
In 2014, Steven U. Vidovic and David M. Martill re-examined von Meyer and Broili's specimens, along with four others, all juveniles. They concluded thatP. scolopaciceps was not only separate fromP. kochi (which they found to beparaphyletic, with some specimens likely being their own genus) but fromPterodactylus altogether. Instead, based on morphological comparisons and phylogenetic analyses, they suggested that it was closer toArdeadactylus,Aurorazhdarcho, andCycnorhamphus. They describedP. scolopaciceps as a new taxon, and gave it the nameAerodactylus scolopaciceps. The generic name derives from the Greekaero (wind) anddactylus (finger), and was chosen in reference toAerodactyl, aPokémon based on an amalgamation of different pterosaur groups.[8]
Four years after Vidovic and Martill's paper, however, Bennett challenged its validity. He contended thatA. scolopaciceps was named based on skull features that were only trivially different from those ofPterodactylus, thatAerodactylus was founded on an unnatural assemblage of specimens, and that no evidence had been presented to rule out the effects oftaphonomy or individual variation. Further, he concluded that Vidovic and Martill had provided no arguments of any taxonomic significance. Therefore, he concluded thatA. scolopaciceps is ajunior synonym ofPterodactylus antiquus.[9] Robert S. H. Smyth and David Unwin, in 2024, agreed with his assessment, and concluded thatA. scolopaciceps consists of juvenileP. antiquus specimens.[10]
Aerodactylus is known from six fossil specimens, and though all of them are juveniles, all preserve complete skeletons. Like all pterosaurs, the wings ofAerodactylus were formed by a skin and muscle membrane stretching from its elongated fourth finger to its hind limbs. It was supported internally bycollagen fibres and externally bykeratinous ridges.[8]The skulls ofAerodactylus were long and narrow with about 64 teeth which were more crowded towards the jaw tips. The teeth extended back from the tips of both jaws, and the tooth row ended before the front of the nasoantorbital fenestra, the largest opening in the skull.[7] Unlike some related species, the skull and upper jaw was curved slightly upward, not straight.[11] A small, hooked beak was present in the very tips of the jaws, with both upper and lower hook no larger than the teeth that surrounded them.[12]
The neck was long, and covered in long, bristle-like pycnofibres. Athroat pouch extended from about the middle of the lower jaw to the upper part of the neck.[13]
Aerodactylus, like related pterosaurs, had a crest on its skull composed mainly of soft tissues along the top of the skull. One specimen (MCZ 1505, the counter slab of BSP 1883 XVI 1) shows a roughly triangular soft tissue crest extending upward above the posterior half of the naso-antorbital fenestra and the eye; the crest was 44 to 51 mm long (around 38 to 45% of the total length of the skull) and reached a maximum height of 9.5 mm.[7]
Bennett (2013) noted that other authors claimed that the soft tissue crest ofPterodactylus extended backward behind the skull; Bennett himself, however, didn't find any evidence for the crest extending past the back of the skull.[7] The back of the skull bore a small crest or "lappet" which pointed backward in a cone-shaped structure. The lappet was composed mainly of long, stiffened fibres twisted together in a spiral pattern inside a conical sheath of soft tissue.[13]
The wings were long, and the wing membranes appear to have lacked the furry covering of pycnofibres present in some other pterosaurs (such asPterorhynchus andJeholopterus). The wing membrane extended between the fingers and toes as webbing, and a uropatagium (secondary membrane between the feet and tail) was present, as well as a propatagium (membrane between the wrist and shoulder).[13] Both the finger and toe claws were covered in keratin sheaths that extended and curved into sharp hooks well beyond their bony cores.[12]
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